Skyrim graphics

[Vanzagar]

For those that have actually played the game, what are your thoughts (take pole)?

Opinions on out of box unmodded game...

[Sean_W]

Poor fidelity but some places have nice textures. Lighting is lacking at night, it's way too soft and doesn't come close to The Witcher 2's lighting and the shadows are terrible. The game fidelity wise is a step back from Oblivion. Also the water looks like crap.

[Sean_W]

Environment design is different to actual graphics that's why. slaWter plays at settings that would make any game look good.

Skyrim looks about a 2008 game with some textures from 2004.

I think it looks amazing. Watching the water falls and exploring damp caves never looked better. Its annoying that people compare this game to The Witcher when that is a closed enviroment vs a much larger world with freedom to go anywhere.

[Sean_W]

The Witcher 2 and Skyrim are the same game type, just like Gothic 4 and even that had much better texture quality and fidelity. Size of the game have nothing to do with texture quality and fidelity, it's just that Skyrim is a Xbox360 direct port to the PC with higher drawn distance.

Originally Posted by Sean_W

The Witcher 2 and Skyrim are the same game type, just like Gothic 4 and even that had much better texture quality and fidelity. Size of the game have nothing to do with texture quality and fidelity, it's just that Skyrim is a Xbox360 direct port to the PC with higher drawn distance.

Yes the graphics are tied to the size of the game, its a lot more taxing on any system if you use more high res textures. They don't make games just for the top PCs, you are a minority, they make the games for the average PC which wouldn't even run the game at the max settings to begin with. Hell if it wasn't for me my GF wouldn't ever change her graphics settings in her games beyond resolution even though she has a great rig.

[Sean_W]

Originally Posted by |MaguS|

Yes the graphics are tied to the size of the game, its a lot more taxing on any system if you use more high res textures. They don't make games just for the top PCs, you are a minority, they make the games for the average PC which wouldn't even run the game at the max settings to begin with. Hell if it wasn't for me my GF wouldn't ever change her graphics settings in her games beyond resolution even though she has a great rig.

They're not. A lot of the textures are reused and texture quality has nothing to do with performance, other than VRAM capacity. Skyrim has bad textures because they ported it from the Xbox360 not because the game is so vast. Skyrim is like Crysis 2, in the fact they made no attempt on during developement to improve the fidelity on the PC.

If you believe that Skyrim's graphics are limited to it's size, you're badly mistaken, texture mods should show you that. Texture quality has zero impact on performance, assuming you have the VRAM and texture quality setting are only there for cards with lower VRAM

Originally Posted by Sean_W

They're not. A lot of the textures are reused and texture quality has nothing to do with performance, other than VRAM capacity. Skyrim has bad textures because they ported it from the Xbox360 not because the game is so vast. Skyrim is like Crysis 2, in the fact they made no attempt on during developement to improve the fidelity on the PC.

If you believe that Skyrim's graphics are limited to it's size, you're badly mistaken, texture mods should show you that. Texture quality has zero impact on performance, assuming you have the VRAM and texture quality setting are only there for cards with lower VRAM

Yes and the game already is topping the standard VRAM Size for the average PC. I have used Texture mods in other Bethesda games and trust me there is a performance hit, if you do the high end Oblivion Mods you can bring even a top rig down to where it acts all crappy.

[Sean_W]

The game is badly optimised in places. If you put the game on high or the same as the consoles, it won't use that amount of VRAM. Also resolution takes a lot of VRAM. Fallout 3 texture mod is fine with 1Gb VRAM and those textures are superior.

[jeffmd]

I pretty much have features set to maximum, with a mild amount of AF and FXAA (I know it can result in some texture blurryness but it is much better then god awful foliage fringe).

The game really is a testament that it's not the size that matters, but what you do with it. Textures are wonderful, the architecture is wonderful, and it has great atmospheric effects. The majority of this stuff is related to the artist, not the game engine.

I also just hoofed it on the far south edge of the map (trying to find the easiest way to the other side of that mountain) and it really felt like riding through a severe snowstorm at night. Frankly I see none of that in witcher 2.

[jkmetal]

The graphics are everything I hoped they would be. When I modded morrowind for better textures, shader effects and dymanic lighting, Skyrim is what I was trying to achieve. The textures and some of the objects aren't up to the standards set by Crysis 2 or Metro 2033 but it creates a realistic and believable world. It looks fantastic and runs very well, even on my mid-range setup.

In short; no complaints.

[Crow_Nest]

Poor textures, i was hoping for better. But the environments and landscapes are breath taking. The best ive seen in any game.